Animal Figures in the Maya Codices | Page 3

codices are made up, for the most part, of the records of the sacred period of two hundred and sixty days, a period called in Nahuatl, tonalamatl, and other numerical calculations. The tonalamatl was used for purposes of divination in order to find out whether good or bad fortune was in store for an individual. It is not necessary at this place to go into the different means taken to record this period of time or its methods of use. It may be well, however, to explain the usual distribution of the pictures in the codices, including those of animals, in connection with the representation of the tonalamatl. A normal period is shown in Dresden 6c-7c. A column of five day signs occurs in the middle of 6c with a single red dot over it. To the right of this column stretches a horizontal line of numbers consisting of alternate groups of black and red lines and dots. Under each pair of red and black numbers there is usually a human form and over each pair a group of four glyphs belonging to the figure below. Schellhas (1904) has classified the various figures of gods appearing in these vignettes of the tonalamatl and lettered them. References throughout the paper will be made to the gods by letters and the reader is referred to Schellhas' paper. Animal figures often take the place of these gods as in the second picture in Dresden 7c where the screech owl is shown with human body. The greater number of animal figures in the codices occur in some connection with these tonalamatls.
MYTHOLOGICAL ANIMALS. Where figures are shown with human body and animal head standing alone in the place usually occupied by one of the various deities in the tonalamatl, there can be little doubt that they have a mythological meaning and are to be taken, either as gods themselves, or as representing certain of the gods. All of the animals are by no means shown in this position. The screech owl, or Moan bird (as in Dresden 10a) appears most frequently in this way. The king vulture (Dresden 8a), the dog (Dresden 7a), and the parrot (Dresden 40b) come next in descending importance. The animals represented as copulating (as in Dresden 13c) might also be considered as mythological animals as well as the full drawings of the jaguar (Dresden 8a) and the other animals when they occur alone in the regular vignette of the tonalamatl. The four priests in Dresden 25a-28a should also be regarded as representing, in all probability, the dog as a mythological animal. The idea of worshipping animals as gods in themselves is strengthened by noting the ease with which the Maya people worshipped the horse which was left behind by Cortes in his march from Mexico across to Honduras (Villagutierre, 1701, pp. 100-101).
ASTRONOMICAL IDEAS. Animals frequently have a part to play in relation to the constellations. Throughout the codices and, to a less degree, in the stone carvings, we find what have usually been considered to be glyphs for several of the constellations. Numerous calculations in the codices make it clear that the Mayas had a good knowledge of astronomy. These glyphs are usually oblong in shape and three or more are arranged together end to end. We have called these the constellation bands. Various attempts have been made to identify these signs of the various constellations. Animals frequently are pictured below these bands. The dog with fire brands in his paws and often attached to his tail is shown in several places coming head downward from one of these bands (as in Dresden 36a). The peccary is also shown in the same position although the fire brands do not appear (Dresden 68a). A figure with macaw head occurs once standing beneath one of these bands with fire brands in his hands (Dresden 40b). The serpent (as in Dresden 36a), the lizard-crocodile-like animal in Dresden 74, the turtle (Tro-Cortesianus 71a), the vulture (Dresden 38b), the turkey (Tro-Cortesianus 10b), and the deer (Tro-Cortesianus 47a) all appear in connection with these constellation bands. It is impossible at this time to decide upon the part these various animals play in relation to distinct constellations. In addition to the animals named, several of the gods, especially god B, are found below these bands. One of these signs, the one identified by F?rstemann as standing for Saturn, is composed of the head of the crocodile more or less conventionalized.
F?rstemann (1902, p. 27) identifies the turtle with the summer solstice and the snail as the animal associated with the winter solstice. There does not seem to be any one animal used in connection with any one of the cardinal points. In Tro-Cortesianus 88c the dog seems to be associated with the north as shown by the glyph